" Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in My house, and prove Me now herewith, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of Heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. "
( Malachi 3:10 )

The churches I grew up in did not teach this important Bible principal. Most would pass the plate and pray that God would " bless the ones that have to give and the ones that do not. " Others would put a small box in the back of the church and you could drop in a " free will offering " if you wanted to. I always liked that at the time, because it did not obligate me to give. After all, I worked hard for my money. I was the one who went and got this money, I thought. The problem was Deuteronomy 8:18, which says; " And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He that giveth thee the power to get wealth. "

So, when my wife talked me into visiting a Full Gospel Church for the first time, of course, they took up three offerings and did an auction type bid to buy the Pastor a new car! I told my wife; " I will never visit this " Hollywood Church " again! ( Of course, I did wind up attending there for seven years and loved it! ) When my wife talked to me about tithing, I told her; " I don't tithe. I make my money, not that church! I'll tell you what, I'll try it one time. If it doesn't work, I'm going to quit. " My wife immediately went to God and said; " God, I need You to show him it works or he won't do it. "

Did God meet the challenge? Well, let's look at what happened all in that same week: I got a new job doubling my salary ( I had made $5.00 an hour at the most for 10 years, wasting my time in grocery stores )and took over payments on a brand new car!

There have been reports about very wealthy men who have not made Jesus their Lord and Savior, but who give large offerings to area churches and charities and are very blessed and wealthy. Now, if people of the world who do not call Jesus their Lord and Savior can figure this out, why can't some members of the body of Christ? If you are not tithing, you do not trust God!

A series of books came out recently, which caused a lot of excitement, called “Godchasers.” The question the Lord posed to me was; “Why are My people so excited about being a ‘Godchaser,’ but do not seem to be concerned that they are robbing Me? "

Let's look at Malachi 3:8:
" Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me.
But you say, Wherein have we robbed You?
In tithes and offerings. "

Some folks might read this and say; " So! " " So! " indeed!
Let's continue on verse 9:
You are cursed with a curse; for you have
robbed Me, even this whole nation. "

Suddenly the blessings and cursings in Deuteronomy 28 take on a whole new meaning, don't they?

Commanded to Give With No Benefits?

If there's anything that irritates me more ( than
a " cussing Christian " of course! ), it's a religion that throws " Gospel rocks " at people and offers no way to get out of the situation they've found themselves in. Did God do that concerning tithes? let's look at verses 10 - 12:

" Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in My house, and prove Me now herewith, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of Heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes,
and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast forth her fruit before the time in the field, says the Lord of Hosts.
And all nations shall call you blessed: for you shall be a delightsome land, says the Lord of Hosts. "

God didn't just say; " Do it! " He didn't just say in Luke 6:38: " GIVE! " He gave us benefits for our giving.

I encourage you to honor the Lord with your substance and with the first fruits of all of your increase ( Prov. 3:9 ) and reap the benefits. Don't be a Godrobber!

In closing, let's look at 6 Aspects Of Malachi 3:10 - 12. Let’s revisit the question; " Did God command us to give without giving us any benefits for the money? " To find out, let's look at a revelation the Lord gave me concerning Malachi 3:10 - 12:

The Command:
" Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, "

The Reason:
" That there may be meat in My house ."

The Challenge:
" Prove Me now herewith, "

The Blessing:
" If I will not open the windows of Heaven, and pour you out a blessing,
that there shall not be room enough to receive it. "

The Provision:
" And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast forth her fruit before the time in the field, says the Lord of Hosts. "

The Declaration:
" And all nations shall call you blessed: for
you shall be a delightsome land, says the Lord of Hosts. "

Don't be a Godrobber! Be a Godpleaser! You have a Covenant with God! Honor your part, and God will honor His!

“ My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.” Psalms 89:34

If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be! TRUST JESUS NOW

Read more articles by Michael Isaacks or search for articles on the same topic or others.

Even though I disagree with your premise, you did a good job in getting your point across. This is an issue that people on both sides of the arguement are very passionate about in their views. I like your writing style and look forward to reading more of your work.

very well written and thought out piece. I don't think people really see themselves as "robbers" when they don't tithe! I was blessed...my father got saved in a service where the preacher spoke on tithing...imagine - getting saved when the pastor talked about money! But anyway...he started tithing that day and has never missed in the last 50 years.